Monday, 25 March 2013

It's back to a Monday and how does one get some quick, simple and hot dishes on the dining table in the evening. My best strategy would get everything prep the day before and one can get things going quickly then. This Stir-Fried Beansprouts With Tofu And Salted Fish could be one of the dish but the only thing is one can't keep bean sprouts for long.

You can pre-fry the salted fish and store in an air-tight container. The tofu can be pre-fried too and keep in the fridge but if you're not, sprinkle some salt all over the firm tofu and place in an air-tight container to store in the fridge. You'll need to use the firm tofu up very quickly as they turn bad easily.

This is a classic homestyle dish in almost every Chinese household. Am sure many of you, your mother would have dish up this for your meals. Usually it will just comprises of bean sprouts and salted fish but at times tofu is added to make it more substantial. Sounded lame huh but so far I know there are people who need to have recipes to guide them to cook based on my experience working in a culinary school.

If you can find short, fat and juicy bean sprouts from Ipoh, it will be so much better but the ordinary ones are just as fine. I like to tailed mine and my aunt would even topped them!

Lightly fry the tofu pieces with some oil on both sides till brown. Dish up and set aside.

In the same pan/wok, heat up about 1 Tbsp oil before adding in the garlic. Fry till fragrant before tossing in the bean sprouts. Keep stirring, sprinkle in some water if the sprouts are very dry. Add the tofu and seasonings. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.

Pour in the rice wine around the pan/wok and not directly on the sprouts so that the heat will let out the wine's aroma. Stir and add in the spring onion last. Dish up and sprinkle the salted fish pieces all over. Best serve with steamed rice.

Wednesday, 20 March 2013

It have been quite a long while since we last pop by Pavilion Kuala Lumpur. As we got out of the car park, we are very near Level 1 which of course is the food haven floor. As we walk thru looking for the escalator, we chanced upon OMG! Ooh My Gas Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream.

The ice cream lover BoiBoi was scrutinising the posters and all, while Capt'n Hook and I checked out the row of Kitchen Aid mixers where each of them have some kind of piping which we have guessed must be where the liquid nitrogen would dispense.

Seeing that it's something new to him, we decided to let him try one small serving which is called a Cutie Cup. For a 5 oz serving at RM12.90, you get to pick the colour flavour (more on that later) and a topping.

There are 3 steps in ordering, the first being choosing your base of gelato, ice cream or soy milk (woohoo for those who are lactose intolerant). Next you pick your "colour flavour"which you'll see a range of flavours under nuts, fruits or classic followed by colour. Lastly, pick your toppings.

Click to view a larger image

BoiBoi chose an ice cream base with peanut butter flavour and no colour (I think I must have taught him well hehe for not eating colour enhanced food) with a topping of chocolate sauce. And so the server proceed by adding the concoction into the mixer's bowl. He then secure the bowl to the mixer and start beating the concoction. After a few beatings, we next saw "white smoke" billowing all over making it quite theatrical especially for children. Once done, the server scrape out the frozen concoction into a paper cup before topping with chocolate sauce.

BoiBoi getting a dose of liquid nitrogen smoke which he said it's cold, of course

We have a few bites and the verdict... Capt'n Hook just shrugged his shoulder, BoiBoi of course will say is nice, as for myself... the ice cream was smooth and melt quickly but the flavouring is just so so, nothing to shout about. I supposed it's such a novelty now for the young to watch such dramatic smog that billows from the bowl which ended up freezing the liquid concoction into a frozen delight.

As usual, when I write, I tend to search the internet to learn more about the product or ingredients used and came across a rather shocking read that liquid nitrogen nearly kill this teenager but luckily she was brought to the hospital on time. Seems that she drank a couple of cocktails that used liquid nitrogen which made the drink so cold that her stomach was damaged akin to frost bite. Her stomach has to be removed o.O The word of warning would be please ensure the nitrogen has fully evaporated before downing the drinks or whatever, I guess ice cream included!!! So be warned ;-)

Tuesday, 12 March 2013

We dropped by Publika Shopping Gallery for dinner and was walking around just to exercise a bit when Capt'n Hook declared that he would love some cake and coffee. Boi Boi and him likes to have dessert after their mains. We stopped by at the information counter and browsed the shops around and looked at the leaflets and chanced upon one that mentioned Swich Cafe's opening just a few days before.

Swich Cafe is no stranger to me, not when I have Lyrical Lemongrass plus a couple of other non-blogger friends who kept posting the utmost delicious offerings especially the out of the norm cakes by Swich Cafe on their Facebook timelines. Made me sounds as if I've known the proprietress, Lim Cheng Cheng, for ages haha. We have tried their offerings during Bangsar Shopping Complex's Epicurious Brunch and was looking for more but the first location at HP Tower doesn't seems to have a very ideal opening hours hence I guess a lot of us out there would think the Publika outlet is really Heaven sent!

When we dropped by, Cheng Cheng was there and oh boy we really does seems like we have known forever! Lol it was especially so when Capt'n Hook, Cheng Cheng and myself were in the same line of business. As the industry was quite small, there were many names exchanged in the conversation. We did that over a slice of Hummingbird Cake (RM10.00) and a Latte (RM8.00).

Capt'n Hook likes moist cakes with lots of nuts and this Hummingbird Cake fitted the bill when the crunch came from the toasted coconut flakes. The cake was packed with banana and pineapple with a nice hint of spices. The coconut cream frosting is a nice compliment without being very sweet.

Boi Boi as expected chose his ever favourite chocolate cake but this is no ordinary chocolate cake but one made with Valrhona Chocolate (RM12.90). The cake is moist with the right amount of sugar and you'll know good quality chocolate is used when the taste can be exquisite and luscious to the mouth plus it was so well made that the ganache shined like a mirror under the bright lightings.

So far business has been picking up and Cheng Cheng hopes to sell more if their savoury dishes but then again she's not helping it when she keeps coming up with so many ingenious desserts using out of the ordinary ingredients like jackfruit, mangosteen or even avocado. I can also vouch that the savoury dishes are not your typical stuff but do expect a married of East and West such as butter prawn or even sweet and sour chilli crab pastas! Can't wait to dig in more of these and we're going to pop by at Publika soon.

Tuesday, 5 March 2013

My mom made the utmost delish Steamed Yam Cake that is filled to the brim with yam, Chinese sausages and dried prawns. I've asked her a few times how to make it and amount of ingredients was base on the size of the "antique" tall round tin that she have. Kinda difficult for me to adjust it so I just let it be. I know I can get tonnes of recipes online but somehow it just didn't move me. Other than Steamed Yam Cake, there are versions using different ingredients like radish, black eyed peas or even pumpkin.

My boss gave me a huge chunk of pumpkin after a photo shoot. I love pumpkin but not everybody in the household really likes it :( So to mellow out eating pumpkin in chunks or slices, I remember there's this Steamed Pumpkin Cake recipe in Agnes Chang's Delightful Snacks & Dim Sum book. I guess having grated pumpkin in a steamed cake should do the job.

I've adapted the recipe just a little, omitting chicken stock granules. In fact I've used far more grated pumpkin than stated in the recipe hence my cake is packed with pumpkin. Thank goodness everybody enjoyed the steamed cake even BoiBoi did not make any fuss and asked for more. This recipe is definitely a keeper as the proportion of batter versus ingredients melded up nicely and feel free to add more pumpkins.

In a fairly large pan or wok, heat oil and fry up chopped garlic and shallots till soft and fragrant. Add dried prawns and continue to stir fry till fragrant. Next add in sausages and minced meat. Stir fry until meat is cooked and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Give the batter a stir before pouring into the stir fried mixture together with the grated pumpkin. Add in salt and pepper. Keep stirring until batter became thick. Taste and adjust seasonings. Turn off the heat.

Pour mixture into a 22 cm square or even round tray. Even the surface with the back of a spoon or spatula. Steam on high heat for about 45 minutes. The surface should be quite firm. Remove and leave to cool completely.

Garnish the cake by scattering chopped spring onion and fried shallots on the surface before slicing. Serve with garlic chilli sauce.

Note: For a more fragrant cake, pan fry the slices with some oil before serving especially the left over, if there's any!